WATERLOO Ė Adrian Raeside, editorial cartoonist and author of Return to Antarctica, will speak at Laurier March 16 about the ill-fated journey of Robert Scott, the second man to reach the South Pole.

The year 2010 marks the centenary of the race between Englishman Scott and Norwegian Roald Amundsen to be the first to reach the South Pole. In 1910, Scott led the British Antarctic Expedition to the South Pole only to discover that Amundsen had beaten him by days. Scott and the four men who accompanied him on the final leg to the Pole perished on the return journey.

Among the surviving members of the British expedition was Canadian physicist, and Raesideís grandfather, Charles (Silas) Wright. In addition to performing his duties as the teamís glaciologist, Wright led the search party that discovered the bodies of Scott and company eight months after they had frozen to death, less than 18 kilometres from a waypoint with food and fuel.

Armed with his grandfatherís diary, Raeside travelled to Antarctica in 2008-09 to retrace the expeditionís footsteps and gain perspective on a century-old adventure that challenged menís courage, strength and sanity.

For his lecture, Raeside will share never-before-seen photographs and tell the harrowing story of the men, conflicts and blunders behind the British Antarctic Expedition to the end of the Earth.

Return to Antarctica, the lecture, is sponsored by Laurierís Department of Geography and Environmental Studies, the Cold Regions Research Centre, and the offices of the Dean of Arts and Vice-President: Academic. The lecture is free and open to the public. For more information about Return to Antarctica, the book, visit www.returntoantarctica.com.